The present invention relates to a drink cupholder on the seat standard or frame of stadium seats, which includes a separate mounting bracket that can be preinstalled on the standard, before the seat backs are put into place and using bolt holes that are also used for mounting the seat backs in place. The mounting bracket can be installed, and later the seat backs can be installed. A separate drink cupholder is fitted into the place on the mounting bracket as a final step and locks in position covering the bolts used for mounting the mounting bracket and sent back to prevent tampering.
In the prior art, drink container holders or drink cupholders have been advanced, and have become very popular in stadium seating for theaters, sports arenas and the like. The cupholders generally are mounted at the rear of the seat backs, so that they are accessible and useable for persons seated in the row behind the row of seats on which the cupholders are mounted. Also, separable mounting brackets and drink cupholders have been shown in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,644, illustrates such a cupholder. Improvements in the ease of mounting, and the procedures for enabling one to install a mounting bracket at the time the seat standards are installed into the arena, and then later adding the drink cupholders, while insuring that the drink cupholders are secured in place is important. Tampering with drink cupholders can be a problem, and the cupholder of the present invention covers the bolts that attach the mounting bracket to the seat standard when the drink cupholder is snapped into place. This construction will discourage, and essentially eliminate, removal of the brackets and the drink cupholder.
The bracket and the drink cupholder can be molded out of suitable plastic materials, and provide an attractive, easily installed, and relatively tamper proof assembly.